The invention relates to a sharpener for soft-core pencils. An example of such a sharpener is disclosed in German laid-open patent application No. 44 40 271. The term "soft-core pencils" refers to pencils having a carrier material that can be peeled off, such as wood or plastic, as well as those having bare soft cores, which are conventionally used as makeup or cosmetic pencils.
In a known sharpener of the above-mentioned type, the core shaper is a shaping blade that can be adjusted on a transverse slide between a shaping position and a retracted position, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the sharpener channel. The transverse slide is positioned in the free space that receives the pencil cone during sharpening. The sharpener or guide channel provided in the housing for the pencil is located in front of the free space. Depending on the position of the transverse slide, the pencil tip can selectively be given a relatively sharp, pointed or rounded shape, while the sharpening blade assumes the task of shaping the pencil cone and, simultaneously peeling off the pencil jacket (if present) as the pencil, guided in the guide channel, is rotated for sharpening.
In a modification of such a sharpener, two shaping blades are disposed side-by-side on the transverse slide for selectively sharpening the tip to varying degrees of roundness. Because of the narrow spatial conditions in the region of the side of the free space facing away from the sharpening channel, the transverse slide is complicated to produce. Furthermore, the slide hinders the periodically necessary removal of the built-up core mass which tends to smear easily and jam the transverse slide guide in the housing in the region of the core shaper.
In a similar sharpener for soft-core pencils that is known from European published patent application 0 872 356, the core shaper is a scraping tongue that is formed onto the cleaning end of an accompanying cleaning implement. When the sharpener is in the operative state, the cleaning implement is snapped to the sharpener housing with a holder such that the free end of the scraping tongue that is integral with the implement tip projects out of the space, beyond a side wall of the free space in front thereof, and into the free space in the direction of the sharpening blade, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the guide channel. In the process, the tip of the scraping tongue extends slightly below the sharpening blade, thus assuring shaping of the entire core tip up to the longitudinal axis of the core. This solution facilitates sharpener cleaning, the primary problem being the hygienic removal of the built-up soft-core mass.
The scraping tongue projecting laterally from the cleaning implement is inconvenient during the cleaning process involving the cleaning implement if the tongue hinders the implement tip from accessing angled corners of the sharpener housing or the free space provided in the housing for receiving the pencil cone to be sharpened. Moreover, some dexterity is required for securing the cleaning implement to the sharpener housing, with the scraping tongue being repositioned in its default position slightly around the sharpening blade following the cleaning process, in order to prevent damage to the sharp scraping tongue. The cleaning implement, and thus the integral scraping tongue are of a relatively soft plastic to prevent dulling of the sharp cutting edge of the sharpening blade during the cleaning process.